Identity of rogue teachers to be made public

The identity and actions of many rogue teachers will no longer be kept secret from the public, the Ontario government has decided.

Sweeping changes to how the Ontario College of Teachers deals with verbally, physically and sexually abusive teachers were announced Friday by provincial education minister Laurel Broten.

The Toronto Star launched its series on bad teachers on Sept. 20.

“Parents deserve to know about teacher discipline,” Broten said Friday, announcing some changes and saying more will come.

The changes were prompted by a Toronto Star investigation published in September. The Star found the identities of bad teachers were often being hidden from the public by decisions of the self-regulatory body set up to protect the public trust. The Star also found that teachers facing charges of sexually abusive behaviour were allowed to avoid a formal public hearing at the College and plead guilty, often to lesser offences and receive a minor penalty, using a dispute resolution process.

Just before the Star published its results, the College quietly announced it had hired retired justice Patrick LeSage to examine how teachers are disciplined. That review is to take until May.

Article Continued Below

Minister Broten said that, while she supports the LeSage review, parents and the public need change now.

“We are not waiting to take action,” said Broten, adding that her ministry is now working with the College on several changes.

Starting Jan. 4, the full text of all disciplinary decisions, most with names included, will be posted on the College’s website. Previously, many bad teachers had their names shielded in case summaries written by the College’s small army of 19 public relations staff on the order of discipline panels. Those case summaries appear in the College’s magazine, Professionally Speaking. The actual decision and full details of the teacher’s conduct were hidden away in the College’s library.

Broten also made it clear that teachers charged with sexual offences will not be eligible for the dispute resolution process. She has asked the College and ministry staff to develop a policy for what type of cases should be eligible.

This move for greater transparency has been advocated in the past by the College’s Public Interest Committee, a group of three provincially appointed individuals who act as a watchdog over the watchdog. Their recommendations have largely been ignored by the elected teachers who make up the College.

Broten also said she is paying particular interest to several items LeSage is probing, particularly how the College typically decides which disciplined teachers to name and not name. She is also examining the creation of mandatory penalties for certain types of offences.

The Star’s investigation found teachers convicted of abusive behaviour were given a reprimand or short suspension and allowed back in the classroom (often in a different school) if they took a course on student-teacher boundaries.

Article Continued Below

The College’s registrar, Michael Salvatori, was in meetings Friday afternoon and did not make himself available for comment.

However, College spokesperson Brian Jamieson said the changes Broten announced came from multiple conversations the regulatory body had with the minister and her staff.

“We identified that we could do something in relatively short order that makes sense and is much more accountable to the public,” Jamieson said.

While the College will begin posting the disciplinary decisions online in January, some rulings may still be shrouded in secrecy. Details such as the offending teacher’s name, the school and even the school board could be omitted if the College decides it needs to protect the identity of the student complainant.

“We’re going to redact or black out anything that would be an identifying detail that would point to a child or any other vulnerable witness,” Jamieson said.

Teacher discipline is a hot topic in Canada. Earlier this fall, the government in British Columbia shut down the B.C. College of Teachers and replaced it with a new organization with disciplinary panels that are not dominated by teachers. The Star’s investigation found a similar issue in Ontario with discipline decisions often made by a majority of teachers and only a few appointed public members involved.

One thing the College and Minister in Ontario have not yet tackled is the issue of teachers ruled incompetent. Those hearings are behind closed doors and the public is not privy to the details.